A sneaking suspicion that privacy’s being invaded

Few realize Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android automatically keep track of wherever you go. They record and transmit the phone’s latitude and longitude, along with a timestamp, in part to collect data on Internet WI-Fi hotspots.

But cops in some states may also be taking advantage of this. During a routine traffic stop, Michigan state police can use a hand-held cell phone snooping device to download all your locations, contacts, text messages, call history, photos or videos in minutes. And you’d be none the wiser.

How can they do this, you wonder, when the Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches without a warrant? It’s a good question, already raised by the American Civil Liberties Union. Ever since it learned police had acquired these high-powered gadgets a few years ago, the ACLU has repeatedly asked for information about how they’re being used.

So far, no answers. In response to the requests under the Freedom of Information Act, Michigan state police countered that the cost of assembling the paperwork is more than $500,000, and the ACLU must pay more than $270,000 before it can receive even a single document.

That hefty price tag clearly violates the intent of the act. Since there hasn’t been any incident yet of a motorist fighting the use of this device, the ACLU has yet to file a lawsuit. But that doesn’t mean police can just sit on this public information.

The device in question, manufactured by CelleBrite, is capable of grabbing all photos and video off an iPhone within 1½ minutes. It works with thousands of phone models and defeats password protections. That’s a powerful tool for invading people’s privacy.

Practically everyone travels with cell phones, GPS devices and laptops, with little thought as to who might be keeping tabs, or how. The ACLU is already challenging the federal Department of Homeland Security’s policy of warrantless electronic searches of laptops and cell phones at airports, for people not suspected of any crime. And the Justice Department is urging the Supreme Court to allow GPS devices to be affixed on suspects’ vehicles, without a warrant, to track their every move.

As we increasingly rely on gadgets crammed with personal information, it’s more important than ever to make sure that vital legal step — the warrant — doesn’t get bypassed by high-tech sneakiness.